VSC HVDC active damping for the Sylwin 1 offshore wind power plants

SylWin1 is a VSC HVDC link connecting 864MW offshore wind power generation to Germany's high voltage network. This paper presents a harmonic performance analysis of the offshore network carried out during the design and commissioning phase with a focus on the distortions at the 155kV and 33kV offshore networks caused by the amplification of harmonics generated by the HVDC and wind turbine converters. Low frequency harmonic amplification problems are mitigated by introducing active damping in the HVDC converter controls in order to achieve a cost effective solution with the aim of reducing offshore harmonic current and voltage distortions. The analysis was carried out with the help of detailed frequency domain model offline simulations of the offshore network and on-site measurements.